A/N: All the Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling, No profit is being made from this fic.


Chapter 2: The Hunt


Sarah woke up to a warm sensation crossing her cheek. She instantly noticed a most horrifying smell and opened her eyes slowly to see what had happened. Her vision was blurred, but she could make out sharp, white fangs and black nose that seemed only inches away.

"Woof!"

Sarah moaned as her ears rang from the onslaught of noise. "Ah, Bruse! No, get off," she yelped as the giant Doberman pincher dragged his tongue across her face. The clock on the mantel chimed 2 AM and Sarah sighed.

"What a great way to start the day," she thought sarcastically as she wiped her face with the back of her hand then picked herself off the floor and headed, a bit unsteadily, to the bathroom. She took a quick shower and moved to the sink to brush her teeth. Mid-stroke, she looked up into the mirror and groaned, because her black, kinky hair was in disarray around her face and shoulders, her gray eyes had bags under them and, above all, she had an imprint of where her face had been on the carpet. She hoped that it would be gone by the time she woke up and headed straight to bed.

Sarah woke to the phone ringing. She felt that she just laid down, but the sun streaming in through the curtains was evidence that it was far from 2 in the morning and more like 2 in the afternoon. Sarah shut her eyes tightly as she reached for the phone.

"Hello?" she drowsily answered.

"Yes, may I speak to a Miss Sarah McCanster?"

"This is she," Sarah replied automatically.

"I was just calling to tell you that you made the first cut in your audition for Fantine and that the next audition will be tomorrow at 3. The Director wants all the call-backs to sing "Come to Me," which you and the others will be singing with Ivan Rutherford, who will be playing Jean Valjean."

"Oh, really? Wow! Ok, thank you very much."

After Sarah hung up, the realization sunk in as she thought, "I made the first cut! I made the first cut!" Sarah danced around the room yelling, "I can't believe this!" Then Sarah stopped and realized that she needed to practice.

She ran to her piano that sat in the corner of her living room and shuffled through the music until she found the required piece. She played at the piano for a bit until she looked at the clock and noticed it was 11. Sarah shut the piano and left to go shower and head to work – completely oblivious to the two cloaked figures outside staring into her window.


The next morning, Sarah woke up refreshed and ready for her audition. She left early so she could have plenty of time to warm up. When Sarah arrived at the Royal Opera House, she was given a number, and, surprisingly, there were only about 20 other women there for the audition. Each girl, one by one, went in for their audition until it was just Sarah left.

Finally, her number was called and she was guided in, as before, to the stage. Ivan Rutherford was waiting for her and Sarah went up to him and shook his hand. The Director then told her she could begin when she was ready.

Sarah took a deep breath and nodded to the pianist. The music started and she began her song:

"Cosette, it's turned so cold. Cosette, it's past your bedtime. You've played the day away and soon it will be night." Her voice filled the opera house she continued until Ivan took his turn. His voice was deep and rich it caused the hair on the back of her neck to rise.

"Oh, Fantine, our time is running out, But Fantine, I swear this on my life," he sang.

"Look, M'sieur, where all the children play."

"Be at peace, be at peace evermore-"

When they finished the song, Sarah complemented Ivan's singing and looked to the judges.

"Thank you for coming, but, unfortunately," the director sighed, "your voice isn't what were looking for in the character. Fantine is a broken woman and we need something that will portray her sorrow. Your voice is just too..youthful and sweet. Don't stop singing, though! I'm sure that if you keep practicing, you could someday get a lead role, but you may want to start off with some smaller parts to get some experience."

"Oh, I understand. Thank you for at least giving me a chance," she told them with a smile, but, inside, she was hurt because she had worked so hard, and then to have them tell her that her voice was too 'sweet and youthful' was a hurtful blow, but she wouldn't let this stop her from her dream.

Outside of the opera house, Sarah hailed a cab instead of her usual walk home. On the way, she thought about what happened only a couple days earlier. How had she gotten home when she was in an alley minutes before? It just didn't make since.

The cab driver brought her back from her thoughts. "Hey, lady, is this it?" he asked.

"Yes, sorry, I was just lost in thought," she answered as she paid the man and went inside. It was only about 8 o'clock, but Sarah felt tired and decided to reward herself with a nice, hot bath. Sarah closed her eyes and soon drifted to sleep in the tub.

When she awoke, the water had turned so cold that it made her shiver. She stepped out and put on her nightgown. As she was crawling into bed, she heard Bruse bark and then something break. Her heart was racing and she ran over to the bedroom door and peered through the crack. Two men wearing long, black cloaks and silver masks made their way to her library and opened the door. Bruse ran to her room and scurried under the bed. "Gee, lot of help you are," she thought.

"She's not in here," one suddenly whispered.

This made Sarah jump into action. She ran over to her window and slowly opened it, but the windowpane made a shrill screech, and she heard hurried footsteps headed toward her door as she crawled out the window.

"Stop her!" one yelled as the other stuck his head out the window. Suddenly, a red stream of light grazed the back of her leg. The searing pain that shot through her leg brought her to the ground. She quickly thought what happened in the ally, and she thought maybe by thinking of being somewhere else, whatever happened last time would happen again.

Sarah thought of a meadow filled with heather that her parents had taken her to after she had seen Brigadoon, and the purple-pink blooms tickling her nose as she bent to smell there sweet aroma. As the two men grew closer, she thought even harder of the scene, but nothing happened. One man bent down and grabbed her around the wrist.

With a pop, all three of them vanished.


Sarah blinked as a circle of cloaked figures came into her view. One caught her attention because he wore no mask. His face was snake-like and his eyes were as red as blood. As he spoke, his voice was dark and venomous and it sent chills down her body.

"So, this is the girl?" the unmasked man asked.

One of the cloaked figures stepped forward. "Yes, my lord," he answered. It had been one of the men at her house that answered.

"Very good, Lucius," he hissed. "Let's see what type of power she holds." His red eyes pierced into her blue ones, and she tried to look away but something drew her attention. "She thinks she's a Muggle!" he told the others, sounding greatly amused.

"Mu-muggle?" she asked stuttering.

He smiled evilly. "None magical, my dear," he told her sweetly.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Shut up, Mudblood!" the man called Lucius snapped.

"Now, Lucius, is that any way to treat our guest?" he asked.

"Forgive me, my lord," Lucius apologized as he bowed at his master's feet and kissed the hem of his robes.

"Yes, well, let this be a reminder," the one called Master and Lord pulled stick from his robes and pointed it to Lucius' back. "Crucio!" he hissed.

Lucius convulsed on the ground and an ear-piercing scream wrenched from his throat.

Master put down his stick and tucked it back into his robes. When he saw the question in Sarah's eyes, he simply stated, "It's a wand," before addressing the group.

"Now, I believe we shall have a little fun with our guest," he announced, placing a finger under her chin. "A little cat and mouse, I think," he said with what looked like a smile across his lips. "The object of the game is, when I let you go, you will get a 20 second head start to run off and then they-" he said, pointing to the other figures in black robes, "will hunt you down."

Sarah could hear the small snickers the men behind her were making and her eyes filled with fear. "Release her," Master told a man who was standing nearby. The man had an iron hand that came to her side and released the binds. "You had better get going, sweetie," Master whispered as the iron-hand man began to count.

Sarah scrambled to her feet and took off in the woods. Without the aid of shoes, rocks and twigs cut the bottoms of her feet as she ran and made her unable to control her balance.


Severus Snape detested wasting his time on the petty games the Dark Lord insisted on playing. He had better things to do then be a pawn in his game, such as grading the things those dunderheads called papers.

As he approached, all the Death Eaters had formed a circle around the Dark Lord. Then, two pops were heard - one being Rodolphus Lestrange and the other being Lucius with a woman in a nightdress.

"Let's see what type of power she holds," Voldemort said as he moved closer to her.

"What could she possibly offer?" Snape thought bitterly to himself.

"She thinks she's a Muggle!" he heard Voldemort announce with surprised enthusiasm.

"Why would the Dark Lord bring someone like that here? What is so important about this one?" Snape thought.

Snape rarely participated in the "hunts", but, when he found out that the Muggle was a witch, he thought he might be able to get to her first and find out what's so important about her.

"-18, 19, 20!"

"Enjoy the hunt, my faithful followers," Voldemort announced and the group left immediately.

As the Death Eaters started to enter the forest, Snape decided to apparate to the other side and have a better chance of getting to her first. On the outskirts of the forest, Snape could hear the snapping of twigs and the crunch of leaves heading toward him. Her stark white night gown made her an easy target as he approached the running figure.


Sarah had been running the entire time, not even stopping to catch her breath. She continually glanced behind her to see if she was being followed, but, so far, there was no sign of anyone.

As she turned to face forward, she ran into a warm, black wall. She fell to the ground and scooted away from the robed figure. His eyes bared down on her and she felt a sudden chill come over her.

"Who are you?" he demanded in a whisper.

Sarah was too scared to answer.

"Look, I can't help you if I don't know who you are!" he snapped.

"S-Sarah," she stuttered, "McCanster."

"Who are your parents?" he asked, looking around them.

"J-John and Margaret," Sarah answered. She felt like she was being drawn into the man's gaze as his dark eyes seemed to burn into hers. "No," her brain told her, "don't look, look away!"


So far, Snape found her to be like every supposed 'witch or wizard thinking they're a Muggle' he had meet, except the fact that she couldn't control her magical abilities. Suddenly, a loud snap made quickly cast a color changing charm and Sarah's white nightgown turned black.

"Hide behind those bushes!" he pointed. "And keep quite or were both dead."

"Severus?" Lucius called. "Is that you?"

"Yes, Lucius," he drawled. "What is it?"

"Have you seen the girl?" Lucius asked. "The others are becoming reckless."

"No, I thought I could cut her off by coming here, but she must have gone in a different direction," he lied.

"Well, she could not have gotten far," he said as he turned to leave. "Oh, and Severus," he started, "it's good to see you active again." Lucius smiled approvingly and left.

After he was out of earshot, Snape turned to Sarah and whispered, "You can come out."

"What do they want with me?" she asked as she attempted to clean her bleeding feet off.

"I don't know yet," he told her. "Look, you have to leave and get as far away as possible. Just keep running."

Sarah nodded and quickly took off into the darkness. After a while of "looking", Snape returned to the other Death Eaters to tell them he found no sign of her, and then return to Hogwarts just as the sun was rising.


A/N:

Hey everyone, I'm glad those of you who have read the story and left reviews like the story and I hope to get another chapter up soon. I want to thank my Beta Kim who is the bestest is the world. And my reviewers.

HPFan : thanks for the review I hope to keep you interested.

Fury's Grace : I'm glad you liked it. At first I thought it was a bad idea to write this. But since I'm getting some good reviews, I think I'll keep going.

Valero : Yes she did apparate. I hope this is to your liking.

Myself : (note: this is not me lol) sorry about I was working on my other fic Remember When and I was swapping back and forth. Thanks for pointing that out.